Top Ten STORIES of 2009

Two years on from its service debut, operators have told Flightglobal that the AirbusA380 has proved itself to be a crowd pleaser from a passenger point of view but suffers some frustrating technical problems.

The Turkish AirlinesBoeing 737-800 crash on approach to Amsterdam Schiphol airport is the first survivable incident in which the anti-hijacking cockpit security door was shown to be a hazard for pilots.

Surveillance camera images have emerged of the moment a US Airways Airbus A320 ditched into the Hudson River in New York, capturing the aircraft as it slowed to a halt and the initial moments of evacuation.

Japanese television posted a video of a FedEx cargo aircraft crashing and burning after having landing troubles at the Narita International Airport. The MD-11 freighter was arriving at Narita after a flight from Guangzhou, China, in strong wind conditions.

Boeing unveiled a new F-15 prototype aimed at the international market with such "fifth-generation" add-ons as radar absorbent coatings, internal weapons carriage and integrated digital avionics, plus featuring a distinctive V-tail.